And possession of their labor was extremely valuable. As this chart illustrates, slave wealth was slightly more valuable than all the agricultural land in the country put together.
It was also more valuable than all the factories and railroads and canals combined. In a world of relatively abundant land and high wages, owning black people was the key to wealth. And the process of emancipation was possibly the single greatest expropriation of wealth in human history. This chart is a little difficult to understand, but it's very deep.
For several different countries, it compares the "market value" of their companies i. This lets us see that in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom share prices are high relative to the book value of companies. The Anglophone countries have shareholder-friendly legal systems in which the owners of stock control enterprises.
In Germany, stocks are much less valuable because the legal system gives much more weight to the interests of employees and other stakeholders. France is an intermediate case. These different conceptions of capitalism coexist with vast sums of wealth at stake in the difference between them. This chart shows that the vast majority of people in the top 10 percent of the American income distribution earn a living the way most of us do — they work for it. But among the top 0. Labor income — wages and salaries — are a distinct minority of total earnings.
The truly rich don't get their money by working for high pay. They get their money as a consequence of their pre-existing wealth. You hear a lot about income inequality, but as this chart makes clear wealth inequality is much more severe. In the United States, just 1 percent of the population owns about 35 percent of all the wealth. Even in relatively egalitarian Europe, the top 1 percent owns around 25 percent of the wealth.
In both continents, the top 10 percent owns over half the wealth. Near the bottom of the spectrum, wealth is typically negative as people have more in debt whether because of student loans, credit cards, or underwater mortgages than they have in assets. We are living through a golden age of billionaires. In there were about billionaires.
That number has more than tripled. But the total wealth under the control of billionaires has grown even faster — over five-fold in less than two decades. The trend reflects both growing inequality in rich countries, and growing prosperity in China and other relatively poor ones. The point here is that not only is wealth held unequally, the inequality appears to be growing fractally with the very richest of the rich growing richer at the fastest pace.
Our mission has never been more vital than it is in this moment: to empower through understanding. Financial contributions from our readers are a critical part of supporting our resource-intensive work and help us keep our journalism free for all.
Please consider making a contribution to Vox today to help us keep our work free for all. Cookie banner We use cookies and other tracking technologies to improve your browsing experience on our site, show personalized content and targeted ads, analyze site traffic, and understand where our audiences come from.
By choosing I Accept , you consent to our use of cookies and other tracking technologies. Share this story Share this on Facebook Share this on Twitter Share All sharing options Share All sharing options for: 9 charts that explain the history of global wealth. Reddit Pocket Flipboard Email. Delivered Fridays. Thanks for signing up! Check your inbox for a welcome email. Email required. I, American State Papers, p.
Artisans, laborers and agricultural workers - Average daily wage, - Philadelphia Shows average wages, year by year, for workers in the city of Philadelphia Pennsylvania only. See table explanation for detail. Department of Commerce, p. Women's wages as domestic servants in New England, Female household servants averaged around 70 cents per week in , according to this congressional report on the history of women in the U.
New Hampshire wages, s The Report of Commissioners on Bureau of Labor Statistics to the [New Hampshire] Legislature is an incredibly rich source of wages dating from the s. While the book is not organized chronologically, pages focus on , giving weekly earnings of women, monthly wages of good hands, shoemakers charge for boots, and a day of haying.
Wage for one day's labor in Albany New York , Chart lists the wage paid for one day of labor in Albany, New York for each year from Compares to the price of wheat and fowls.
Congressional salaries, present Lists salaries along with dates of enactment and statutory authority for each pay increase. International wages by country, British Royal Navy salaries and wages, ca. Page 47 shows the pay per month per mensem for ordinary seamen, barbers and gunner's tailors. Page 46 shows salaries for admirals and their secretaries, clerks and other administrative personnel, physicians, midshipmen, coxswain's mates, able seamen, captain's cooks and more.
There is an extensive table for calculating the pay of seamen based on their years of experience , on page Daily food provisions are also listed. France - Wages, Data and discussion are provided in the "Wages" entry in the Encyclopedia Brittanica, 10th edition, vol.
Economic analysis and calculators, s Nineteenth century wage trends page booklet reviews overall wage trends from Bureau of Labor Statistics Staff Paper 2. Online calculator: Present-day purchasing power of historic monetary amounts The MeasuringWorth. A historical price index Price of gold and silver in various currencies, Shows the Spanish dollar price and the British pound price for one ounce of gold or silver for each year from Also shows the cost for gold and silver on Hamburg and Paris exchanges.
Source: A History of Prices Tables showing money equivalents for foreign currencies, ca. For example, 4 pence equaled 1 groat in Scotland. Dairy products Price per pound of butter back to s;eggs and cheese back to s;quarts of milk back to s. Food preparations Prices for individual biscuits back to s, sugar, salt and tea back to s.
Bread, lemons, chocolate, coffee, crackers, raisins, lard, macaroni, molasses, and more. Tea is extensively subdivided by type and priced by the pound. Flour and Meal Flour, buckwheat flour, graham flour, "Indian Meal," rye meal, oatmeal, wheat bran and more priced by the pound or bushel. Agricultural products Fruits, vegetables, grains Reported for almost every year as far back as the s.
Meats and Nuts Prices by the pound for bacon, beef, ham, lamb, mutton, pork, etc. The table for nuts includes prices by the pound for almonds, filberts and walnuts.
Poultry and game Price per pound of goose, turkey, and poultry back to Fish Prices for halibut, herring, haddock, salmon, codfish, eels, etc.
Liquors and Beverages Prices for brandy to , cider to , wine to , gin to , rum to , and more. Spices and condiments Prices by the pound or ounce for wide variety of spices. The earliest spice prices date to s. Price of vinegar dates to s. Prices in Pennsylvania, A farm family's account book shows a variety of items that were purchased, along with prices.
Price of wheat and fowls in Albany, New York - Table reports annual data for price of wheat and fowls as well as wages paid for one day's service for every year from Prices paid by federal government for provisions food and clothing Source tells the price paid by the federal government to supply the Navy. Individual prices include for a barrel of beef, pork or flour; for bread, rice, cheese, suet and butter by the pound, and for gallons of molasses, vinegar, and spirits.
Prices in New Hampshire, Chart provides prices for particular foods, articles of clothing, shoes, various household supplies and construction materials in two New Hampshire towns, Dunbarton and Lyme. Tea price in Rhode Island, A newspaper advertisement listed green tea for sale at 8 shillings per pound. New Hampshire prices, s The Report of Commissioners on Bureau of Labor Statistics to the [New Hampshire] Legislature is an incredibly rich source of both prices dating from the s: pages focus on ; pork, beef, veal, and butter prices are discussed on p.
Massachusetts - Prices for household items Source: 16th annual report of the Massachusetts Bureau of Statistics of Labor pub Furniture Price of bedsteads, bed cords, bureaus, tables and chairs are listed, with some prices dating to the s. Carpetings Prices date to Cutlery Prices for table knives and forks back to s, and pocket knives back to Paper Letter paper, priced by the sheet, dating to s. Tallow, candles, soap, etc. Soap prices date to s. Oils for Illumination Oils to light lamps and lanterns, dating back to the s Fuel Charcoal, oak wood, pine wood, coal, etc.
Miscellaneous, not elsewhere classified Price for brooms, brass kettles, brick, matches, tubs, tumblers, clocks, candlesticks, silver watches, feathers by the pound , wine glasses and more.
Prices for some items date to s. Tobacco and snuff Prices for cigars by the dozen, and tobacco and snuff by the pound or sometimes ounce. Tobacco prices date to s. Price paid in cloth, clothing articles - New Hampshire, This source contains entries from merchant's accounts in the Chester, NH area dating from to Includes various types of cloth baize, calico, drugget, linen, India cotton, and woolen cloth , shoes, a pair of mitts, silk gloves.
Else where this sources gives prices of palmleaf hats in and fulled cloth for men's wear. Source : History of old Chester [N. Massachusetts - Prices for clothing and sewing supplies Source: Sixteenth annual report of the Massachusetts Bureau of Statistics of Labor, for Clothing Prices of hats, handerchiefs and stockings back to the s; gloves, breeches, pantaloons, hose and coats back to s; shawls and vests back to the s Cloth Prices for some types of cloth back to s Dress goods Prices for alpaca wool and calico by the yard, as well as batiste, cambric, cashmere, crape, gingham, gauze, lawn, muslin, linsey woolsey, plaid, poplin, satin, silk, velvet and many other fabric types, some back to the s but most back to the early s.
More fabrics are listed under the Dry Goods heading. Dry goods Prices for blankets back to the s, cotton flannel, damask and denim, diaper cloth, shirtings, ticking, and more, some dating to the s. Boots, shoes and leather Prices reported by the individual pair or by component such as buckles, leather, buttons, braid, fringe, etc. Detailed prices for style and type of shoe, boot, sandal, slipper, rubber overshoe, etc. Earliest price dates to s.
0コメント